[StBernard] Residents question Murphy lab plan

[Westley Annis]

Residents question Murphy lab plan
Sides disagree about what is 'buffer zone' 
Sunday, March 30, 2008
By Paul Rioux
St. Bernard bureau 
Michael Miller didn't fully appreciate just how close his house is to the
sprawling Murphy Oil refinery in Meraux until the company bought most of his
neighbors' homes and tore them down as part of a $343 million settlement
stemming from a massive oil spill during Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. 

 
"Those houses acted as a sound barrier," said Miller, whose house on Jacob
Drive is about 200 feet from the refinery's fence. "Now that they're gone,
all I can see or hear when I walk out my front door is the refinery." 

Miller said that is why he opposes Murphy's proposal to build a laboratory a
few houses down on property that the company acquired in a buyout program
linked to the oil-spill settlement. 

"The refinery is already too close," he said. "I don't want it any closer." 

Company officials emphasized that the $5 million lab would be used to test
its petroleum products and would not be part of the refining process. 

"There is no health risk," said Carl Zornes, a Murphy spokesman. 

The company has asked St. Bernard Parish government to rezone three Jacob
Drive lots from residential and commercial to heavy industrial to
accommodate the project. 

Much of the debate at a public hearing Tuesday in front of the parish's
Planning Commission focused on what constitutes a "buffer zone." 

In approving a settlement in a class-action lawsuit over the oil spill, U.S.
District Judge Eldon Fallan wrote last year that the buyouts were intended
to "create a buffer zone between the Murphy Oil refinery and the community
and remove the most heavily contaminated properties from residential use." 

Several residents equated a buffer zone with green space, arguing that
nothing should be built in the buyout area, which extends four blocks west
of the refinery. But company officials have a different interpretation. 

"There's a common misconception that a buffer zone means green space," said
Daniel Dysart, a Murphy Oil attorney, at the hearing. "What it means is that
there must be something between the refinery operations and residential
areas." 

Zornes said the company believes that "something" could be a lab, an office
building, a parking lot or a warehouse. 

"Of course, any additional projects in the buffer zone will be subject to
the zoning requirements of St. Bernard Parish," Zornes said in a written
response to a list of e-mailed questions from The Times-Picayune. 


Vote delayed 

Dysart said Murphy Oil has pledged to not expand its refining or oil storage
operations beyond its pre-Katrina fence line, but that assurance was of
little consolation to residents at the hearing last week. 

"They destroyed our homes through their own negligence," said Chris Holmes,
who lives on Despaux Drive, two blocks from the refinery. "They should not
be rewarded by being allowed to expand into our neighborhood." 

The Planning Commission tabled a vote on whether to recommend that the
Parish Council approve or deny the rezoning request until April 22. A second
public hearing has been scheduled for that date to give Murphy officials
more time to respond to technical questions about the proposed lab. 

The 15,000-square-foot, one-story lab would replace an existing lab on St.
Bernard Highway across from Murphy's loading terminal, Zornes said. 

He said the company will also spend an estimated $11 million to renovate the
old Gulf Coast Bank building several blocks from the refinery on Judge Perez
Drive to serve as office space for 200 employees and contractors. 

Zornes said the refinery's payroll has increased from 258 employees before
Katrina to about 300. 


Battle over tanks 

Katrina's floodwaters lifted a refinery storage tank off its foundation and
moved it more than 30 feet, causing a million gallons of oil to leak into
surrounding neighborhoods. 

In January 2007, the refinery agreed to pay an estimated $330 million to
settle a federal class-action lawsuit involving about 6,500 property owners
and renters affected by the spill. Zornes said the actual settlement costs
have reached $343 million and are still climbing. 

He said that figure includes $52 million to purchase 465 of the 571
properties in the voluntary buyout area. 

As part of the buyout program, the Parish Council voted earlier this month
to sell Murphy the fire station on Judge Perez Drive next to the refinery
for $200,000. The company agreed to let the parish continue using the site
until a new station is built on nearby property donated by Murphy. 

Residents living near the refinery recently lost a battle to prevent Murphy
from adding four massive storage tanks to be used in the production of
low-sulphur diesel fuel. 

The residents said they feared the additional tanks would increase the risk
of another spill, but company officials said the tanks would be equipped
with spill controls, including earthen dikes, in accordance with federal
regulations. 

Zornes said the state Department of Environmental Quality has issued permits
for the tanks, which will be built on property the refinery owned before
Katrina. 

. . . . . . . 

Paul Rioux can be reached at prioux at timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3321.